title: Adsorption of polyelectrolytes onto oppositely charged cylindrical macroions.
abstract: In this work we investigate the adsorption of polyelectrolyte chains onto uniformly charged cylindrical macroions by means of the Metropolis Monte Carlo simulations and weighted histogram analysis method. Adopting a simplified model for macromolecules and treating the electrolytic solution in the Debye-Hückel level, conformational properties of the adsorbed chain, such as the radius of gyration and the thickness of the adsorbed layer, are provided as a function of ionic strength and macroion charge density. By analysis of the free energy profile as a function of the radius of gyration it was possible to identify first-order-like transitions between adsorbed and desorbed states and obtain a macroion charge density dependence of the critical ionic strength in good agreement with experiments.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física, Instituto de Biociências, Letras e Ciências Exatas, UNESP-Univ Estadual Paulista, Rua Cristovão Colombo 2265, Jd. Nazareth 15054-000, São José do Rio Preto, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Sidney Jurado
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: de Carvalho
authors.forename: Daniel Lucas Zago
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Caetano
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D004573:Electrolytes / Q000737:chemistry; D056004:Molecular Dynamics Simulation; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D004573:Electrolytes; D011108:Polymers